Black people are just people. And sometimes when associations are made about who we are, where we live, and how we learn, simplified perspectives prevail.
As college applications are sent throughout the nation, many will rightly consider HBCUs. Conversely, some, whose experiential and research-based knowledge on HBCUs ranges from negligible to “nann,” will perpetuate negative ideas about black colleges.
Sometimes college talk is just coded language, throwing shade at black people.
And the discourse isn’t always one of Dashiki’d divas and divos sticking it to the white man who underestimated us. What about what black people believe about ourselves? Sometimes our fear of, and discomfort with each other, speak volumes.
A candid concern letter ran on The Root from a parent whose child attends a predominantly white Catholic school and could attend an HBCU for college.
While nothing in that letter spoke to anti-blackness from their family, the fact remains that some people who could benefit greatly from HBCUs won’t even consider them.
Some people without the objective criteria to gain college acceptance, in general, malign black schools. I have seen people’s eyes light of at the prospects of ivory towers and roll at the idea of ebony towers. These conversations are often reflective of cultural and racial dysmorphia.
Sure, it can be challenging to go from being the nutmeg among milk to immersion in the Baskin Robbins-like varieties of blackness. But, HBCUs are not new to this. They’re true to this. Black students from white schools come to black schools all the time. And life goes on.
HBCUs elicit different emotions from different people. They can be sources of pride and opportunity. Many are bastions of blackness and brownness with students and faculty from big cities, country towns and other nations. Many have service bends. Others emphasize everything tech-y and STEM-y, both essential to this country’s global future.
The issue is one of confinement. People confine black schools because they confine black people. Death to black rigidity. There’s no lone way to be it.
We all aren’t gung-ho about being black. Some couldn’t imagine being any other way. We all aren’t liberal. Or rhythmic. We aren’t all enamored with 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We’re not all Shawty Lo. We’re not all Oprah.
Some of us are Crispus Attucks. Some really want to be Django. Our schools run the gamut because our people do. And people, in general, do.
There needs to be a collective shift, because too many are internally colonized. Too many of us still associate everything black with negativity and inferiority. This translates aesthetically, as more European features are celebrated.
It translates linguistically as people who use standard English are accused of “talking white.” For some, it also translates to the validity of their degrees and knowledge obtained at institutions boasting large populations of color.
Harriet Tubman said, “I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” It is not too late for freedom papers.
Living in a nation as diverse and (sometimes) progressive as the United States, means that people can choose. School selection is akin to boo selection. Courtship looks and feels different for different people. If a predominantly white institution best serves some students, wonderful. If a junior college works for others, great. Certificate programs? Solid.
That same open-mindedness must apply to HBCUs.
As long as costs and demand for academic excellence continue, a largely uneducated underclass will persist. Too many black, brown and poor white people fill that position. And as more first-generation college goers enter HBCUs shoulder to shoulder with people from around the world, we must consider what we find valuable in an institution.
Is it about prestige? Affluence? Tokenism? Simplicity? Getting in and out? Greek letters? A poly-syllabic major? Humanitarianism? Marriage? Money?
These issues affect students across the nation, regardless of hue or location. Yes, HBCUs are a result of systemic academic isolation for black Americans, but as times change so do schools.
The new conversation on black colleges should be about who’s here, who wants to be here and how to maximize opportunities for those whose experiences began here.
As HBCUs continue evolving into Martin Luther King Jr. and post-racialism’s pretend lovechild, now is the time to tackle the black school issue by also tackling the black people issue.
Digest Columnist Imani Jackson is a FAMU College of Law student. A Grambling State University journalism graduate, she was editor-in-chief of The Gramblinite newspaper and a radio talk show host for KGRM 91.5. Her writing has been published in Politic365, Black College Wire, Clutch Magazine, and The Daily American in Somerset, Pa.
Source:
http://hbcudigest.com/black-people-and-bla...
Posted By: How May I Help You NC
Friday, February 1st 2013 at 1:38PM
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